Working Offline

Formta keeps working when your connection drops. Your changes are kept on your device and will sync when you're back online.

Setting Up Offline Access

To open Formta without a connection, you need to set up offline access on that device first, while you're online. You'll need to set it up again after you sign out, or if you haven't been online for longer than your plan's offline days. Closing the browser doesn't undo it, even if you didn't select Remember me when you signed in.

A passkey isn't your password. Your password signs you in to Formta online, and it stays the same. The passkey only unlocks the copy of your work kept on this device, so you can open it when you're offline.

1. Go to Account → Security & Privacy → Offline Access and click Set Up Offline Access
2. Read what can be lost while you're offline, and click I Understand
3. Create a passkey when your browser asks. You confirm it's you the way your device or password manager usually asks you to, like your device's PIN, your fingerprint or face, a security key or your password manager
4. When you open Formta without a connection, click Unlock With Passkey to get to your projects

Your projects, files and changes kept on your device are locked, and only your passkey can unlock them. Someone who uses the device or copies its files can't open your work without it.

To stop using offline access on a device, click Remove From This Device in the same place.

Who Can Use Offline Access

Offline access needs a browser and a passkey that can unlock it. If your browser can't use passkeys, Formta will tell you in Offline Access. If the passkey you create can't unlock it, Formta tells you when you set it up, so you can try another one.

These work:

• Mac with macOS 15 or later: Safari 18 or later, Chrome or Edge 132 or later with passkeys saved in Apple Passwords or Google Password Manager, and Firefox 139 or later
• Windows 11 (24H2 or 25H2) with the February 2026 update: Chrome or Edge 147 or later and Firefox 148 or later, unlocking with Windows Hello (PIN or fingerprint), with the passkey saved on the device rather than in Microsoft Password Manager
• Windows 11 without that update: a security key or a supported password manager in Chrome or Edge 116 or later, or Firefox 139 or later
• iPhone and iPad: iOS and iPadOS 18.4 or later
• Android: Chrome, Edge or Samsung Internet with passkeys saved in Google Password Manager, and Firefox 149 or later
• Password managers: Apple Passwords, Google Password Manager, Enpass, and the browser extensions of 1Password, Proton Pass and Keeper
• Security keys: YubiKey 5 and other keys that support passkey encryption, in Chrome, Edge or Firefox. On Android, plug the key in with USB

These don't work yet:

• Windows Hello on Windows 10
• Safari with a security key: Safari 26.4 added it, but it still has bugs, so use Apple Passwords instead
• Security keys over NFC on Android: plug the key in with USB instead
• Passkeys saved only in a Chrome profile, rather than in Google Password Manager
• Passkeys saved in Microsoft Password Manager
• Dashlane and NordPass, and Bitwarden in most browsers
• iPhone and iPad before iOS 18.4, which have bugs that can stop offline access unlocking

On a device that can't use offline access, Formta works online only.

How You'll Know You're Offline

A banner will appear at the top of the app saying You're offline. Changes will sync when you're back online. If your internet works but Formta can't be reached, it says We can't reach Formta right now. Your changes are kept and will sync when the connection's back online. While the connection comes back, it may say Reconnecting… for a moment. The banner disappears once you're connected again.

What Happens While You're Offline

• Your changes are saved on your device: Changes to elements, projects, comments, tasks, events and more are kept until they can sync
• You can keep working offline for a number of days that depends on your plan: 7 days on Free, Personal and Studio, and 30 days on Pro and during the free trial, counted from the last time you were online. You can close the app and open it again offline with your passkey as often as you like in that period. After that, you'll need to go online and sign in again
• Your projects are saved on your device: All the projects you can work on, so you can open any of them while you're offline. Full-size files you haven't opened on the device will show a smaller preview with a cloud icon until you're back online
• You can close the browser window and turn off your computer before you're back online. Your changes are encrypted on your device and kept safe until they can sync
• Changes waiting to sync are kept for 7 days on Free, Personal and Studio, and 30 days on Pro and during the free trial, counted from the last time you changed that item. After that, they're removed from your device, so go online before then, or download a backup
• If a change can't be saved on your device, hovering Download Backup will show Some changes are only kept until you close this page. Download a backup to keep them. The change will still sync while the page is open

The Sync Status

In the header, to the left of undo and redo, you'll see what you can do while changes are waiting to sync:

• Download Backup: You're offline and changes are waiting to sync
• Syncing…: Your changes are being sent
• Retry (1/5): Some changes didn't go through, so you can try again
• Upload Backup: The changes still couldn't sync after five tries, and you've downloaded a backup on this device
• Resolve Conflicts: Some of your changes need a review before they're saved. See below

When your device is running out of storage space, Formta will tell you. The full-size copies of the files you opened longest ago are then removed from the device to make room, and they'll show their preview instead while you're offline. Nothing else is removed to make room: the previews, your offline changes and any files you added offline that are waiting to upload are always kept.

When You're Back Online

Your changes will sync automatically, and Syncing… disappears from the header once everything is up to date. You don't need to do anything, but wait until it's done before you make new changes. You can still view pages and open tasks, events, meetings and files while you're waiting.

If Someone Else Changed The Same Element

In a personal project, your offline changes are saved without asking, unless what you changed has since been deleted, for example on another device or by the bin emptying. In a team project, they're saved without asking when nobody else has changed the same thing since you were last online.

If you've changed an element offline and a team member changed the same element while you were away:

• The header shows Resolve Conflicts. Click it to open Review Offline Changes, which shows the current version next to your changes. Select Keep or Delete for each change, or Keep All Changes or Delete All Changes, and talk it through in the conversation next to it
• The team members who changed the same element get a notification and can join the review with you. Nobody else on the team is told. You can also tag someone in the conversation to invite them. If nobody has time to join, you can decide which changes to keep yourself

Downloading A Backup

While you're offline and changes are waiting to sync, the header has a Download Backup button. Download a backup every time you finish working offline, before you close the browser window. Your offline changes are only kept on your device until they sync, and the backup is the only way to get them back if they're removed from it. The backup holds everything that's waiting to sync, from every page in the app, including your inventory, calendar, inbox and account settings, and any files waiting to upload. If there are files, it's saved as a .zip file, otherwise as a .formta file. The backup is encrypted, so only Formta can open it, and only in the account that made it. Keep it until your changes have synced.

Don't open or edit the backup file. Formta checks that it's exactly as it was downloaded, so if anything in it has been changed, it can't be read, and none of the changes in it can be added back.

If you're back online, the changes still haven't synced after five tries, and you've downloaded a backup on this device, the header will show Upload Backup. You can also upload a backup at any time in Account → Security & Privacy → Offline Backup:

1. Click Upload Backup
2. Select the backup file you downloaded
3. Formta will show how many changes and files it'll add back, and ask before it does. Select Upload Backup to go ahead
4. Your changes will sync like any other offline changes, so anything someone else has changed since will come to you for review first

Retrying A Failed Sync

If some changes didn't go through, the header shows Retry. The button counts how many times a change has been turned down, including the tries Formta makes by itself, like Retry (1/5). After five tries, it changes to Upload Backup if you've downloaded a backup on this device. A change Formta has turned down five times is removed from your device, so upload your backup to add it back. A try that fails because you're offline doesn't count.

Tips

• Signing out removes everything saved on your device, so nobody else using the computer can see your work. If changes are waiting to sync, Formta will try to sync them first, and if it can't, it'll offer to download a backup before you sign out. If you sign out while you're offline, you won't be able to sign back in until you're online
• Don't clear your browser data while changes are waiting to sync. That's where they're kept. If you do, and you haven't saved a backup file, Formta has no way of adding your changes to your project, and your offline changes are lost
• Reconnect on a stable connection, so everything syncs in one go
• Always download a backup before you close the page while you're offline. If the sync fails, it's the last way to keep your offline work